Senate Update: Audits begin, Dems need $$$$$

Ballot counting in three races that will decide control of the state Senate is moving at a glacial pace. But it is moving, according to Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Senate Democrats.

In the race between Sen. Antoine Thompson and Mark Grisanti, “three-percent audits” of the voting machines has begun. In this process, as you might imagine, three percent of voting machines are checked to see if the number of ballots that went through them matches the number of voters on poll books. Officials in Erie County began taking an inventory of the emergency (or “affidavit”) ballots that were cast, but are not yet opening them. Counting should begin next week. Grisanti leads Thompson by around 600 votes.

Two election districts remain uncounted in the race between Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer and Bob Cohen. it’s unclear why. Shafran said they are in the cities of White Plains and New Rochelle. Oppenheimer has a 366 vote lead.

There are 3,600 absentee ballots in the Nassau County race between Sen. Craig Johnson and Jack Martins. An inventory of the emergency ballots will begin tomorrow, and a three-percent audit will start next week. Martins leads Johnson by just over 400 votes.

“When all the votes are counted, Democrats will have retained the majority. Our objective is simple: we want a full, fair and honest count of every vote cast,” Shafran said.

“We’re going to be getting all the resources necessary…We’re starting, potentially, the largest voter protection effort yet in the state of New York,” he said.

Republicans see it differently.

“This desperate shakedown of lobbyists isn’t about paying for a recount, it’s about helping Democrats get out from under a pile of debt and padding their legal defense funds while they’re still in the majority,” Republican spokesman Scott Reif said. “The Senate Democrats know their days in the majority are numbered and they’re simply trying to slow down the counting of votes so they can hang on for as long as possible. We’re confident that when all the votes are counted the results will continue to show Republicans winning 32 seats, and possibly 33.”